John Locke/Theories
Locke's faith * The episode title was named for the events occurring in the Hatch as well as "Locke" physically being brought "down". It was also foreshadowing regarding Locke's eventual fall from faith. * The episode title "Lockdown" also had (like many if not all other episode titles) another meaning, because it is connected (via the energy pocket below the Swan station) to the monster not being able to use a different human form anymore after xeroxing the John Locke that had become "very special" because of his paradoxical life/death-situation/the Incident. It describes the effect of FLocke becoming "locked down" by being confined to John Locke's physical form. Don't get confused by all the time factors and other things involved and think it through, it's really pretty simple and logical and helps to explain and understand quite a lot of stuff that happened during the series. * Faith played a bigger part in Locke's life while he lived on the marijuana commune in and suggests that he gradually lost his faith between that time and when he went to Australia. * John's tag line has always been, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" and his own bullheadedness leads him to deny his true destiny in favor of choosing his own way. * Arguably, John's stubbornness was a good thing, as it brought the Oceanic 6 back to the Island and later resulted in Hurley being made the Protector. Locke and the Island *There has always been a disconnect between what "the Island" would want and what "Jacob" would want. We see that conflict in a variety of settings. Ben for a long time has been unable to distinguish between what the Island wants and what Jacob wants. When he says in Cabin Fever that he "used to have dreams" and the constant reminder that he has been following Jacob's orders that are written on a piece of paper (we have seen this before but most clearly stated in The Incident Part 2). This shows that he has no idea what the difference is between Jacob and the Island. Locke, on the other hand, does know. He understands that Jacob has a level of power of manipulation of the Island's powers that are very powerful. In order to truly gain control of the Island you must win over the Island's trust and be able to manipulate the Island better than Jacob. **I would actually think one would want to be more in tune with what Jacob wants than what the Island wants. The reason for this is simple. It's always been suggested that the Others are in better communion with the Island than with anyone else, that they really are the "good guys" for some reason. While certain people, such as Ben and Widmore, have expressed things in terms of the Island's wishes, most of the Others, including Richard Alpert, seem more concerned with Jacob's wishes. If the Island's wishes and Jacob's wishes are separate (which there is not necessarily any evidence for), then I think the evidence points toward Jacob as being the one you want to listen to. Plus, Locke mostly refers to what the Island wants, himself, so I don't know if he has any more knowledge than anyone else about the truth. * Locke would have been a great possible candidate if he wasn't killed but the Island and jacob both liked Locke and this shows that Locke was special and could have done great things later if he could have. *Locke's legs failed on his way to the beech craft as foreshadowing that Boone would have to go up in the plane.--Shrutiva 23:44, June 5, 2011 (UTC) ** Or they failed to symbolize that fate was being mistaken for coincidence. Neither Boone nor Locke were supposed to climb up into the Beechcraft, and Boone was not 'the sacrifice the island needed'. Carlyle was one of the candidates, and it is possible that Jacob was not done with Boone and that he was still eligible. This would make it possible that Locke was died too far away from the island to become a whisper and experienced the same phenomena as Michael did in Meet Kevin Johnson, when Libby was appearing to him. The objects Locke chose foreshadowed his life * In the test Richard presented Locke with as a child, the latter chose a vial of granules (most likely sand from the Island), a compass, and a knife. Judging by Richard's reactions, the first two were the correct choices - the sand represented home, devotion, loyalty, and faith, and the compass represented direction, choices, and leadership. * When Locke chose the knife, he failed the test. He was supposed to choose the Book of Laws, which represented justice, equity, selflessness, wisdom, and compassion, and instead chose the knife, which represented violence, selfishness, fear, and bloodshed. He dreamed of being special and chosen, of being the great hunter, the worshiped warrior, and when flight 815 crashed, he was able to live out his fantasies - with a chest full of knives. * The knife in Richard's test was who he wanted to be, but that was not what the Island needed him to be - and that was his ultimate downfall: he was too obsessed with his own self-worth to truly do what was best for the Island, and when he eventually became leader, he hadn't grown enough as a person (or a Candidate) to lead anyone peacefully, and fell back on tyranny, force, and fear - the knife - when he should have led with altruism and justice - the Book of Laws. This, ultimately, was why he could never be the Island's protector - it needed the soft touch of a caretaker, not the knife of a dictator. Claire was a test by the Man in Black * When the Man in Black, in the form of Christian, lured Claire away from Sawyer and Miles and left Aaron in the jungle, it was a test for Locke. * When he found Claire inside Jacob's cabin, it was painfully obvious that she was not acting of her own volition, that she was drugged or entranced - and, had Locke shown selflessness and care for her, if he had been willing to give up his own desire to make contact with Jacob and be special, if he had been willing to put the needs of an innocent before himself, the Man in Black would have been entirely willing to let Claire go with him. She was a moral test, another way to prove to himself that humans were inherently selfish and destructive - Locke could have rescued her, could have been concerned that her baby wasn't with her, but he didn't, and he wasn't, and he proved the Man in Black right. Instead, he abandoned her to an unknown entity in a dark cabin in the woods, and went off to carry out his glorious destiny - just as the Man in Black had known any human would. * The Man in Black would have been willing to let her go, if Locke had made the right choice - why else have her with him in the cabin, where he knew Locke would find her? Locke could have saved her, but he didn't, and the Man in Black condemned her to the fate her leader had decreed for her. Subsequently, everything that happened to Claire after that was a direct consequence of Locke's actions - or lack thereof.